Ever dream of turning your basic home podcast setup into a pro-level studio that looks sharp on camera and delivers top-notch sound? You're in the right place! Today’s episode is all about leveling up your home studio, and we’ve got the perfect guide: Junaid Ahmed.

Junaid, the host of the Hacks and Hobbies podcast, takes us on his inspiring journey from a hobbyist with a passion for photography to becoming a home studio expert. He now helps entrepreneurs, podcasters, and speakers create professional-grade content from the comfort of their homes.

In this episode, Junaid reveals how he went from experimenting with DSLR cameras to designing high-quality home studios during the pandemic when video calls and remote work became the new normal. He shares valuable tips on improving your visual presence through better lighting, sound, and framing—showing why first impressions matter in both podcasting and video content creation.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to upgrade your current setup, Junaid’s insights will transform how you approach your home studio. This episode is packed with practical, actionable advice to help you create a studio that not only looks amazing but sounds even better!

IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:

• Junaid’s Early Journey: How a childhood gift of a film camera ignited his love for photography, leading him to study and master the technical aspects of cameras, lenses, and framing over the years.
• The Power of Home Studios: Junaid explains how the shift to remote work during the pandemic fueled his passion for helping others improve their home studios for better quality video and audio.
• Lighting and Sound Tips: The importance of lighting in creating a professional on-camera presence, and why good audio is crucial for audience engagement in podcasts.
• The 7 Stages of Home Studio Evolution: Junaid outlines his book, which details the different stages of upgrading your home studio, from starting with basic equipment like smartphones to reaching a broadcast-quality setup.
• Consulting and Studio Assessments: How Junaid helps podcasters and creators through a 4-point studio assessment that evaluates lighting, sound, and space to build personalized home studio setups.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode:

• Home Studio Mastery:
• homestudiomastery.com
• Hacks and Hobbies Podcast:
• hacksandhobbies.com
• The book, "7 Stages of Home Studio Evolution":

Tune in and make your home studio shine!

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join us on this exciting journey to unlock the full potential of your

podcast. Well, here on Podcasting Tech, we love

talking about equipment and how to improve your home studio, and who better to bring

on than one of the home studio experts in the space.

We are chatting with Junaeid Ahmed. He is a home

studio architect at hacks and hobbies podcast. He also

runs home studio mastery.com.

Janaed, thank you so much for joining me today. Matthew, I'm so excited to

be here. You know, I'm talking about tech, like, day and

night inside my head to people. And, you know, what better way

to talk about it than here on podcasting tech? I I

have to ask, how did you

find yourself becoming an expert in home studio

creation and advice for people who are trying to do podcasts and

video content? Like, what was your journey to get to this spot where you are

today with your beautiful home studio mastery polo shirt with the logo and

everything on it? It looks great. Well well, it all started

when I was a young child at, like, probably 11, 12 years old, and

my uncle gave me a film camera. And I was,

like, fascinated. I'm like, oh my god. I get my own get to have my

own camera. And since that day back in 89,

I've been taking photos and and been fascinated by the

technology that photography and then comes through.

Fast forward, we are in the era of

smartphones, cameras. Like, they're they're everywhere.

So not only was I taking photos on film cameras and

film videos cassettes where you had to actually put

VHS tapes in there or 8 millimeter tapes. I've been recording video

that far away. Now in the past 15 years, I

was awarded or I was given as a gift

for my anniversary. My wife got me a DSLR camera, and

I'm like, oh my god. This is the real deal. This has everything,

the larger sensor. So I took my time

and I studied over 15

different courses on understanding the tech behind

camera, framing, composing, the lenses, the

sensor. Like, what do all of these terms mean? And as I

learned all of this stuff, how to use these cameras for

video, interviews, for you know, shooting video.

Like putting all of that together, I got more acclimated.

Now as the pandemic hit, I had already been shooting

short films, short videos, interviews

with people for other people being behind the camera. But as

the pandemic hit, we were all, you know, in our

home offices working in front of a little

webcam. And as I continue to, you know, do

my work and, learn about technology, I had

stuff sitting around, and I see Pat Flynn

do these live streams every single day on YouTube. I'm like, woah, dude.

What's going on? Why is this so clean? Why is this so sharp? And

he shares that you a blog post on all the tech that he

was using in it. And as I read that blog blog post, I was like,

wait. I have all of the gear that he's talking

about. Like, what? So I started putting this stuff together.

And as as people saw me on video on these Zoom calls,

they kept asking me, dude, your video quality just went from a

webcam to this highest quality like we'd never seen

before. Like, what's going on? So I was like, well, I'm using this camera. I'm

using this. I'm using these lights, blah blah blah. I'd I'd

started telling people what I was using. And so they're like, dude, would you consult

me? Would you help me? So that integrated into

it's like, okay. I'm I'm gonna do this now. I'm I'm gonna help people set

up their studios. So for the past 3 years, I've been helping

people set up their podcast spaces because we're still working from

home. You could be an entrepreneur. You could be a podcast guest, podcast

host. You could be a virtual speaker. We're all

are confined in our homes, and we have the ability to

now level up and add the proper,

gear in this space so that we look and shine on camera.

Because, again, first impressions matter. Right? This is our first impression

in a lot of different places. I'm part of these, amazing

group, Connected Leaders Academy. They have these weekly

calls, and I could see people's videos and, like, oh, you need

some help. You need some help. Or they have these virtual events

every, every quarter where

they're creating a piece of content, they're creating

a speaker reel, or they're creating a talk

that is now going to be evergreen.

Right? So your content is going to live on forever. And as I have guests

on my own podcast being interviewed, you know, viewing over

304 100 guests on the podcast, I'm, like,

telling them, dude, you're going to you're creating this content

to elevate your own brand. So that's what basically the

journey looks like, and that's what inspired me to, you

know, make it a formality and put this together. And as a

probably you've probably seen, I wrote the book on 7 stages of home studio

evolution because not everybody's gonna go and be like, hey. I wanna

go be a broadcast master. There every

every single one of us are at a different stage of

our studio setup. Maybe you start with a smartphone,

maybe with a nice microphone, and that gets you to the

hobbyist stage. So I get I have different stages that say, hey.

Here's what's going on, and here's, how far you can go.

Yeah. It's true. I mean, you you will have folks who see that Pat

Flynn post and go out and buy all that stuff,

spend a few $1,000 only to find out

that, you know, their podcast strategy isn't

all that, you know, fruitful. They don't enjoy doing

it. They don't have the time for it. And, you know,

having spent all that money or they're not performing, the

frustration is just that much higher. And so, you know,

it's always better to start smaller. Right? Like, you can

always evolve. Your your audience is going to enjoy seeing your

quality get better. Your studio look nicer. Your picture

get crisper. Your lighting be better. So I like that you, you know,

it's not just everybody needs to sound like they're on NPR right now. Like, there's

a there's a step in a stage for where everybody has to

be. What would you say is the

thing that most podcasters get wrong with

their home studio? Like, what's that one spot that

9 times out of 10, you know, somebody even somebody who hasn't looked

at your stuff or, you know, following all the other advice, like, what are they

gonna get wrong? So the first thing they're gonna get that wrong is the

lighting element, because if people can't

see you, well, guess what? They're not gonna connect with

you. And the second thing, the second thing is

the most important investment in any podcasting journey.

You might be a guest. You might be a host. You wanna get a good

microphone so people can actually hear you. You

know, we communicate with language, with speaking.

So if they can hear you properly, guess what? Your messaging is getting

across, and there might stay a little longer to hear

that story, to hear what you're gonna talk about, to hear what you have to

say, and then they might live, with bad

audio later on. But that first impression,

you know, good lighting, good audio, is super, super important.

And the third thing that I always mention, and you even if you

don't focus on the first two thing, make sure that you're framed in

properly in the shot. If you've seen television,

if we've seen television, you know, news agencies and

whatnot, they have the shot set

up where your face is towards the top of the frame,

and then you can see the rest of the body or, you know, the bust

or whatever. That's gonna set the standard because our

eyes are much up much higher than the rest of our bodies. So,

again, having you in the top of the frame,

framing yourself properly is probably the number one thing that anybody

can do without having to spend any money. Yeah. You know, it's funny when

you do watch television, when you watch new shows, any any talking

head, any panel, you could probably put, like, a

stencil on your television and that person, they're, like, they'll all

be in the same spot. Their head will all start here. Right? We'll all get

to about this line on them. When they, you know, are putting graphics on the

screen, they'll shift over to the right and, right, the graphics will always be up

here. So, yeah, it's it's it it it does make a big

difference when it's when it's not correct,

the the viewer and the listener, like, just subconsciously is uncomfortable.

They don't know why, but it just it it's not right. And and I am

a 1000% guilty of this, especially now with this new setup that I'm working with

trying to get my framing right and and shifting. So,

you know, so look at Janae's setup, not mine while you're

watching this video. It's looking very clean. It's looking very nice.

With lighting, why is that so difficult?

What what is it that we tend

to either we're not thinking about or we're overthinking that messes us up?

So here in the US, we are used to

using soft white light. Now this is yellowish in color.

It's really good on your eyes, and it keeps you, you know, in a much

more mellow mode. Right? So it's great for home.

And so throughout our homes, we have much yellower lighting.

And because of that, we tend to, you know,

fall victim of this by using those same lights in

our studio spaces. Now there's nothing wrong with these

lights, but the thing is these lights are designed for

ambient look ambiance and more for, you know,

just hanging out. But when you're in studio, you want to use lighting

that's designed for studio. And the light coloring for

that is mainly similar to what you would get from

the outside, the daylight lighting. Right? So it's it's

cooler in color, and you can actually tell the difference of what

kind of light is coming in. As you turn on the lights in your room

and as you have light coming from the outside, you'll see 2 different tones

of white. So one is bluer, one is yellower. So you wanna make

sure that you have the bluer lighting set up in your

space because that's going to, help make

you stand out the more you know, in more

accurate ways, how you show up,

on camera. It's so interesting you mentioned that. We we moved into a new house

a few years ago, and, you know, you're doing all these things. And one

of the thing first things I had to do was I had to go through

and change a bunch of light bulbs. And, you know, you look at the

branding in the GE box, and it's like, oh, this is refreshing. This is revealing.

This is and they all look super nice. And then you put it in, and

you realize it's wrong. It's just wrong.

And and my wife was like, nope. Gotta go back and find the other ones.

And, yes, having that softer light just changes the way the house

looks. It just feels warmer and more comfortable. And, you know, with your with

your video content, you wanna go for that more professional look,

that that better, that better look. So once again,

for anybody who is curious or anybody who has a thinking about

doing, podcasting, thinking about, you know, revamping their home studio,

what's the process like for working with you? So the the number one thing

I have, a 4 point assessment on my

website, home studio mastery.com. Click on the booking link or click on the

4 point assessment. The first thing that I ask you is, hey. Where are

you going to be recording your videos? So ask, you know, home

the dimensions of your room. So we're doing analysis of your room to understand, hey,

what your room look like. And, you know, I ask for some photos. And

then once I have that information, then I can give you a better

idea of what it's like or what you can do

to level up your space and and build out that space.

So the way people work with me, either they're, you know, you're reading the

book, 7 stages of home studio evolution, going through

the the 5 day challenge that I've put together, which

helps you, you know, teach you all of those 5 things. I

also have a 8 week course that, again, goes in deeper.

But if you don't want any of that, you wanna work with me, then, you

know, we go through the 5 day sorry. We go through the 4 point,

studio inspection assessment, and we figure out, hey. Which way

do you wanna work and give you a list of gear? There's a few

downloadables as well I have, provided that

you know, you're as somebody who's thinking about a studio or somebody

who's already creating content, it's already on top of your mind. Okay. I need to

do this. I need to do this. So you're already in that buyer's

journey of, okay. I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking about this. So

the things that I offer, you know, are in line with where you might

be on the journey, and it might actually get you closer to

getting better at, putting those things together.

Nice. So once again, it's it's jinead Ahmed at

home studio mastery.com, or you can check out

the hacks and hobbies podcast through the end,

hacksandhobbies.com. As you mentioned, there's also the book, 7

stages of home studio evolution. We'll have links to all of those in the show

notes so you can easily find and click through and,

engage with Janae if you need a better home studio.

So before we let you go, we do have a couple of questions that we

like to ask everybody who comes on the show. And I'm excited

to get your the second question answered, but I'll the first one is always,

is there a a place within podcasting,

listening, creation, dish whatever? It's like, is there something

you'd like to see improve just in the podcasting industry in general right

now? You know, podcasting have come a

long way, and it's an evolution. And if if we

can look at the past 4 years,

podcasting has blown up because it's it's you know, number 1,

it's been around for 19 plus years. In the past 4 years, it's

grown exponentially to, you know, almost 5,000,000

podcasts at one time. And what's what's amazing is that

what I love to see is more

people jumping in to

create a podcast because not

only is it a personal development thing. You know,

when when I was going to English class, English composition,

my teacher told me, you got a free write. Like, what is free writing? Like,

just write. Like, but I don't I don't know what to write. Like, just write.

Just just get things out of your mind. Just get things out of your head,

and put it on paper. And that's what podcasting has done for me. You I

started documenting my journey. It made me a better person because

not only am I learning from the people around me, but I'm also

clearing my head of all the blocks that it might have.

So, anybody starting podcasting is

a good place because you're growing yourself

and you're helping, develop your mental ability

as well. You know, I've never heard of or thought of

podcasting like that. It's a opportunity to

clear your head. And I'm gonna I'm gonna

really sit on that and think about that, and and I think that's gonna help

me a lot in some of the other things that I'm working on. So I

appreciate that answer. This one is probably gonna be tough

one to to, you know, stay concise on. But

is there a piece of technology out there, whether it's out there and

you just haven't bought it yet, or somebody hasn't created it yet that

you would like to see or you'd like to get your hands on?

You know, that's a really good question because

for the past few years as I've been running my own podcast

and trained my producer to do

all the things that I don't wanna do, there's always

technology that can speed up that process,

and I'm looking to build that technology myself

to not only help you in the preproduction

process but also in the postproduction process because production is

where you come in and we're having this conversation. So this is production.

This is the shortest amount of time you're gonna spend

in podcasting. The smallest, the least. Right?

15 to 20 minutes, 30 minutes is all you're gonna spend in the

production phase. And it's true for literally

everything. Film, TV, like postproduction,

and preproduction is where it takes the most time. So podcasting

is in in the same boat. Now depending on how

higher a quality you want that podcast to

have, you're gonna have to spend that much more mind energy

in the beginning of it. And once you have those things figured out, you could

then spend more time in spending you know, doing the

production where you can now batch produce 10

episodes. You know, you spend 50 minutes to, you know,

4 hours. Now you've you've recorded 10 episodes. And

because the system is so streamlined, you can spend more

time in then, you know, post production. So

the technology that I'm looking for is that helps me

create that workflow that automatically tells me, okay. Here's the next step that we

need to do. Here's the next step that you need to do. Here's the next

step that your guest needs to do. Here's right? So it's basically taking

you along the journey. Now PodMatch has recently added,

something called workflows that kind of walks you

through step by step of which stage of the podcast episode

you're in or which state of the post production you're in. So it

kind of helps you. But if it was more automated, that's something that

I wanna build and enable more and more

podcasts or to jump in and and, you know, utilize that

utility because it's gonna help them, create a more higher

quality podcast. Well, when you do that, not

if, when you do that, because I'm confident you can and will,

you let us know. We'll have you come right back on here so we can

talk about it and share with the audience. And I'm glad you brought up pod

match. We do have sometimes kiddled with Alex to come on the show

here in the coming weeks. So, definitely good to see what they're up to. They've

been really growing that platform and adding a ton of fun stuff. So,

excited to dive deep into that. Alright. The last question, and and

sometimes the hardest one is, is there a podcast or a few

that, you know, are on your playlist that you have to listen to when they

drop or, you know, you stop listening to something else the day they come out?

Is there anything, right, that just you you always gotta check out?

You know, I'm one of the and you're right. You're just,

this is a very hard question because I don't listen to

that many podcasts, but the one that I do pay attention to

is one by Tim Ferris because, he's

not only does he have the depth of understanding around a lot

of different things, but he also brings in some really cool guests,

that are in the, the tech space, the

entrepreneurship space, the space that is

around personal development. And being somebody who is a huge

proponent behind personal development, you know, I love listening to his

stuff. Alright. Tim Ferris. Yeah. He's been around a while. He does it

as well or better than anybody else in the space. So that's a definitely

a a great suggestion and one that we would encourage people to check

out. And once again, while we have you, please, please go and

check out hacksandhobbies.com, home studio

mastery.com. Look for the 7 stages of home studio

evolution where you buy books. Junaid Ahmed,

thank you so much for joining us. And, as I'm sure you're not

surprised here. Looking great. Matthew, thank you so much for this

opportunity. Thanks for joining

us today on Podcasting Tech. There are links to all the hardware

and software that help power our guest content and

podcasting tech available in the show notes and on our website at

podcastingtech.com. You can also subscribe to the show on your

favorite platform, connect with us on social media, and even leave a rating and review

while you're there. Thanks, and we'll see you next time on Podcasting

Tech.